Automatic wrapper feed control for article-enveloping machines



Sept. 6, 1932. ALM 1,875,974

AUTOMATIC WRAPPER FEED CONTROL FOR ARTICLE ENVELOPING MACHINES Filed Jan. 29, 1931 Patented Sept. 6, 1932 niren s'irArrs PAT-1 THERE W, ALM, OF STEWART MANOR, NEW YORK, A SSIGN'OB T INTERNATIONAL CIGAR MACHINERY GOMPAIQ'Y, A COBPORATIQN OF JERSEY AUTOMATIC WRAPPER rnnn contract; FOR niarrotnnnvnnorine MACHINES Application filed January 29.719 1. s mi No. 512,135.

This invention relates to wrapper or envelop feeds for article enveloping machines in which the wrapping material, such as cellophane, tinfoil, etc, is fed in a continuous web from a reel, and the articles to be wrapped, such as cigars, etc, are intcrmi'i' tently conveyed into position for delivery to the wrapping mechanism, on an endless conveyor. The main object of this invention is, to, automatically control the wrapper feed in such a way that when one of the articles on the article conveyor is missing, the wrapper feed will stop during the corresponding enveloping cycle and so eliminate waste of wrapping material.

This object ing device actuated by a feeler which engages witheach article as it arrives in position for delivery to thewrapping mechanism, so that in case of a missing article, this feeler is no longer held in itsnormal position but moves into. the unoccupied space, thereby tripping a lock lever which acts as a clutch between the driving mechanism of the machine and the wrapper feed mechanism. The wrapper feed mechanism operates with a step'by step, motion in such v a manner that the next step brings the said lock lever backinto its drive position, ready to operate the wrap,- pier feed if the conveyor brings an article to be wrapped, otherwise the feeler will again trip. the lock lever and the wrapper feed mechanism will stop. until'an article arrives in position for delivery to the wrapping mechanism. With this and other obj ects. not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain constructions and combinations which Will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically set forth in the 'claimshereunto appended.

In, the accompanying drawing, which shows, the invention applied to. a cigar en QlOPi lg ma h e:

Fig. 1, is a side elevation. of the improved wrapper feed control mechanism;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation, of; the same;

Fig. 3 is'aside elevation showingthe manner in which the. feeler trips. the lock lever when there no, article at the wrappingstation; and I h is achieved by means of a loclr- Fig.4: is a top view of the locking mec'hanism taken on line4-4 of Fig. 1. j in" carrying the invention into efiect' there is provided means'for forwarding articles to he enveloped and means controlled by the forwarding movement of the articles. for feeding a web, of wrapping material for said ar: ticles. In the best constructions contemplated, the forwarding means includes a conveyor table, sprockets intermittently moving chains on said sprockets for conveying the articles along said table, andratchet mechanism for intermittently rotating said sprockets and the web feeding means includes a feeler adapted to engage the leading article on the conveyor chains and connected to a knock out screw adapted to trip a latch lever which normally looks a reciprocating rod to a rack engaging a gear on one of the web-feeding rollers. These various meansand; parts may be widely varied in construction within the scope of the claims for the particular: machine, selected to illustrate the, invention is but one of many possible concrete embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to. be're'strictedto thespeciiic construction shown and described. f

i The. cigars C to be wrapped are placed on the conveyor table and moved towards the end A of) the conveyor table by means of a pair of endless, chains 11 equipped-with pushers 12. he chains 11 are intermittently driven from sprockets 13 on shaft 14 sup. ported bymainframe. 15. On shaft-114i is mounted aratchet 16., the pawl 17 of which is pivoted in the upper arm of a doublelever 1.8 loosely mounted on shaft 14:, the lower arm of lever 18 carrying a stud 19 engaging in. a slot offafpush rod 2.0 operated from ahellcrank lever 21 having a cam roller running in a cam track in the rear face of cam 22 on shaft 23, as shown, in Fig. 1., The motion of lever 21, through rod and lever 18, produces reciprocating motion of pawl. 17,. thereby, through ratchet 16, shaft 14;, and sprocket 13 imparting an intermittent forward motion to the chains 11 carrying the cigars G into position to be delivered to a wrapping mechanism, not shown... I V 1 Pivotstud 19 oflever l8-carries a connecting rod 24 pivoted to a lever 25 mounted on shaft- 26 supported from the main frame 15 of the machine. On shaft 26 is mounted a lever 27 connected by means of a connecting rod 28 to a lever 29 loosely mounted on shaft 14. The connecting rod 28 is provided with an integral feeler 30 which thus partakes ofwhich on its upward stroke takes along a,

bearing lug 37 slidably mounted on rod 35. The lever 34 has a cam roller engaging a cam track in the rear face of cam 33 which is disposed in front of and spaced from the cam 22 on the shaft 23, as shown in Fig. 1. To bearing lug 37 is attached a rack 38 actuating a gear 39, which through a one-directional means such as a ball clutch 40 of usual construction, drives the wrapper feed shaft 41 carrying the reel R, the ball clutch 40 being so arranged that the shaft 41 is driven only on the downward motion of rack 38, remaining at rest on the upward stroke.

' To supporting lug 36 is pivoted a spring tensioned latch lever 42 locking the bearing lug 37 and the rack 38 to the supporting lug 36 and vertical rod 35. r The latch lever 42 is normally in its locking position so that the rack 38 will partake of the motion of rod 35 and thus will operate the wrapper feed.

When a cigar is missing on thearticle conveyor as it arrives at wrapping station A, the feeler 30 will not be stopped in its normal position but will be moved by a spring attached to the lever 27, as shown in Fig. 1, some distance into slots in the ends of the table 10 towards the next following cigar C as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3, thereby bringing knock-out screw 32 into engagement with latch lever 42 and tripping the same, thus disengaging the bearing lug 37 from the supporting lug 36 so that the rod 35 will now move downward without taking along the rack 38 and thus cause the wrapper feed to stop. During this operation the stud 19 moves in the slot of the pusher rod 20 thus permitting the connect-ing rod to move forward to carry the knock-out screw into tripping position. As the lock lever 42 is provided with a tension spring 43, the former will, on the next upward stroke of rod 35, snap back into locking position with bearing lug 37, provided that there is a cigar arriving at wrapping station A which through feeler 30 will prevent the knock-out screw 32 from tripping the latchlever 42. v

What is claimed is: V r 1. In a wrapper feed control for articleenvelopingmachines, the combination with means for forwarding articles, of mecha nism controlled by the forwarding movement of the articles for feeding a web of wrapping material for said articles.

2. In a wrapper feed controlfor articleshaft whereby to intermittently forward the articles.

3. In a wrapper feed control for articleenveloping machines, the combination with means for forwardingarticles, of mechanism controlled by the forwarding movement of the articles for feeding a web of wrapping material for said articles, said means including a shaft, a sprocket and a ratchet fixed on said shaft, a chain running over said sprocket, a lever loosely mounted on said shaft, a pawl on one end of said lever engaging said ratchet, a push rod con nected to the other end of said'lever, a bell crank lever connected to said lever, and a cam for intermittently actuating said bell crank lever, whereby to intermittently forward the articles.

4. In a wrapper feed control for articleenveloping machines, the combination with means for forwarding-articles, of mechanism controlled by. the forwarding movementof the articles for feeding a Web of wrapping material for said articles, said mechanism including a pair of'cooperating feed rollers, a gear connected to one of said rollers,a reciprocating rod, a rack slidably mounted on said rod and arranged to engage said gear, a spring-tensioned latch lever carried by said rod and adapted to lock said rack to said rod, a knock-out screw arranged to trip said lever to release said rack, and a feeler connected to saidscrew andarranged to be engaged by the forwarded articles to disengage said screw from said lever.

5. In a wrapper feed control for articleenveloping. machines, the combination with means for forwarding articles, ofmechanism controlled by the forwarding movement of the articles for feeding a web of wrappingv material for said articles, said'mechanism including a reciprocating rod, a pair of feed rollers adapted .to feed the web of wrapping material, a gear connected to one ofsaid rollers, a rack slidably mounted on said rod, a spring-tensioned latch .lever carried by. said rod and adapted to lock said rack to said rod, a bell crank lever connected to one end of said rod, and a cam for actuating said bell no r crank lever whereby to reciprocate said rod to feed the material.

6. In a wrapper feed control for articleenveloping machines, the combination with 5 means for forwarding articles, of mechanism controlled by the forwarding movement of the articles for feeding a web of wrapping material for said articles, said mechanism including a knock-out screw, a connecting 10 rod carrying said screw, a connecting rod having a feeler in the path of the forwarded articles, a lever connecting said rods, and a spring urging the feeler toward the forwarded articles.

15 7. The combination with mechanism for forwarding a row of cigars one by one into predetermined position ready to be fed to an enveloping machine, of devices including a feeler engaging the foremost cigar in the 29 row for controlling the forward feed of the row, a feed for feeding a length of wrapping material for wrapping the cigar in position to be fed, and control means connected to said feeler and said feed to prevent feeding 23 of said length of material when there is no cigar in said predetermined position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

THURE W. ALM. 

